On this blog I'll post a daily forecast/report of the surf/windsurf conditions in Maui.
Email me if you need to rent a place in Maui or if you need a surf, SUP or windsurf lesson.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Windsurfing in a rainy winter day

Despite what the title may suggest, it was a lot of fun.

This was last Sunday (ops, that was 2 3 08, not 2 4 08 I guess...). Superbowl was on and pretty much nobody was out. The plan was to film Glenn riding his AHD Seal. I had a few technical difficulties (it was a long time I didn't use the GoPro camera and I had forgotten a few things). Plus, filming somebody going down the line with an helmet cam is a pretty hard task.But we learned something and maybe next time we'll do better.Here's the goofy outcome... love that face!

Talking about the GoPro camera, Bill put it on his RC plane. Pretty interesting stuff...

And talking about the Seal, Glenn has a few for sale. 77 and 88l. See him at Hot Sails Maui or send me an email and I'll get you in touch with him. Here's the 88l he was using in the video.

Forecast.That storm in the top left in the map below is generating a swell that will hit Thursday (from WNW) and Friday (from NW). As indicated from the red arrow, it's modelled to move NE. In other words it won't move towards Hawaii and it won't create what's called a captured fetch. That'll be a limiting factor. Still, there will be big waves (my definition of big is: anything above head high!).

The modelled charts 7.5 days out from today, show that another NW swell will hit around Wednesday next week. It will be bigger, because the storm will be closer. This seems to be confirmed also by Pat Caldwell's words:"models show a jet stream track much closer to Hawaii starting near Japan, a more normal February pattern."It's about time!

Anon,when filming with my helmet cam, there's no way I can tell if the camera is filming or not.And I don't want to film 54 min. straight, because that would mean a lot of editing time.So, I click the shutter on and off whenever there's action to film. But sometimes I fuck up, miss a click (or a the impact of a wipeout pushes the shutter) and the camera films when it wasn't supposed to.So sometimes I have to stop in the water, take my helmet off (dishevelled) while I kick in the water with my legs to keep my head out of the water (distressed) and discover that the camera is filming when it wasn't supposed to (distraught).So, you got them all right!I don't know what discombobulated means, but I'm sure I look like that too! :-)

PP, totally agree.

Lano, it wouldn't work even in a calm, glassy day to film the surfers, since as soon as they would spot and catch me, they would instantly crucifix me by the showers... :0

Clay started superstrong with a tube ride worth 9.0 points, backed up shortly by a 5.5 for a total of 14.5. That would have been enough to make he advance in pretty much all other heats ran in the day so far. Not in this one...

Pancho replied with another 9.0 tube ride and a 8.35 one.

But Ola wasn't going to just sit and look.First he scored a 5.75 for a single manouvre wave, a very progressive 360 frontside reverse in the lip (or whatever that impossible spin was called... even the commentator had trouble defining it...), and after that he rode two very difficult barreling waves worth 8.35 and 9.2 that moved him in the lead with Pancho second.Granger didn't do much and at the end Ola and Pancho advanced.

Stoked for Ola, a bit sorry for Clay, but again... what an action packed heat!!!I really see a brilliant future for the Hana surfer...

I've been waiting for another video! That was funny! Great looking board, is that Maori or Hawaiian inspired art?

I find the lack of knowledge of when the cam is on or off to be probably the biggest problem using the GoPro. I've just left it on so far, but it takes a LONG time to download 2 gigs of video then, and I've lost the best sailing because the card was full.

They sponsor you don't they? If you have their ear, you could ask for the next version to have a bit louder beep when you push the shutter start/stop, and for the STOP to be different than the START! Then you could tell without taking off the helmet or getting someone to stare at it to see the red LED.Moreforce4

MF4, good idea. But it would work only if they add a third button, so that you could push the shutter-on multiple times to makes sure it started filming and do the same with the shutter-off... So, I'll forward the suggestion, but adding a third button is probably a costly modification...

Sharon, your board is precursor revolutionary design. One day Francisco Goya saw me at the beach with that board... a few years later, he copied my no-nose design... Check this out! ;-)

Maui webcams

Plenty availability of studios and apts in Paia and the north shore.

About Me

Born and raised in Italy, I became an engineer and worked 11 years in the IT industry. Sick of that, in 2001 I wanted to take a year off and spend it in Maui, the best windsurfing spot in the world. Not only I'm still here (in Maui), but I also got into surfing. And the stoke is flying high. Life is too short to work 8 hours a day...